Free The Last Changeling by Chelsea Pitcher

living in physical forms grew more finite as well, until only the oldest among them could transform at will. For the rest of them, their bodies became like shells, encasing them.
    â€œFearing the changes brought forth by humanity, the Folk traveled to the places where the connection between body and spirit remained uncompromised: untouched forests, peaks of desolate mountains, and the depths of the sea. They relied on glamour—magical illusion—to keep humans away. But no matter how far they went, one aspect of human life always managed to reach them: iron. Iron-infested air attacked the faeries’ lungs. In its purest form, iron could burn the flesh from their bones. And at the height of the Middle Ages, when humans laid iron over their doorways and fashioned it into instruments of death, the faeries found they were losing the ability to reproduce.”
    â€œWait,” Taylor broke in. “How does that work? If faeries are spirits who put on physical bodies, how can they reproduce?”
    â€œWhen faeries fashioned bodies from the elements of the earth, those bodies were as real as the earth herself. As real as you are.” There was an edge to my voice that I hadn’t intended.
    â€œI didn’t mean—it’s just fascinating,” he said quickly.
    I wanted to touch him so badly then, to illustrate the realness of my body. “As fascinating as where human bodies and spirits come from?”
    â€œOkay, okay,” he said with a smile. “So the faeries just manipulated elements and formed bodies—”
    â€œFrom soil and leaves, from air and starlight. Yes. Call it magic, or concentrated will, or focused energy. So if a faerie made a body like a tree, she could self-populate. And if she made a body like an animal, she could give birth like that animal does. The earth is filled with miracles and magic, and faeries are no exception. For many centuries, they were blessed with the ability to have children.”
    â€œUntil they weren’t anymore?”
    â€œExactly.”
    He closed his eyes, scooting an inch closer. His smallest finger came to rest upon my arm. I stared down at it, savoring the connection between us in spite of the danger.
    â€œWhat did they do?” he asked.
    â€œThey didn’t know what to do.” I exhaled slowly. I couldn’t believe the tiniest of touches could bring me such joy. I didn’t want to believe it. “They knew they had to try to reach humanity and take back what they had lost, but they could not fathom how to do it. Humans no longer listened to them. They believed the faeries were minions of some demonic underlord, if they believed in them at all. It seemed hopeless.”
    â€œBut it wasn’t?” His voice was very soft now, the cooing of a slumbering babe.
    â€œNo. For out of the darkness of their despair emerged a leader, whose cruel and cunning tongue promised to bring salvation to faerie kind: the future Unseelie Queen.”
    Taylor’s eyes fluttered and I heard the soft rhythm of his breathing. For a moment I sat perfectly still, before passing the silent words from my lips: “My mother.”

10
    T aylo R
    â€œHow old were you?” I asked, watching the walls in the stuffy basement room. Maybe if I stared hard enough, a window would appear, presto! Cracks lined the ceiling, hinting at a mess of leaky pipes in the wall, and I could hear someone turning on a faucet up above.
    â€œEleven,” Keegan said, his desk squeaking as he nodded to Kylie. “We’d just turned eleven.”
    â€œWow.” I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees. “Was it hard?”
    Keegan shrugged. “They wouldn’t let me go back to Sunday school, with all those other boys. I guess they weren’t worried about the priests.”
    Sitting to Keegan’s left, Kylie winced. “That’s not funny,” she said, nervously arranging her skirt. Fat black letters covered